Will Eric Adams, the New York mayor with a never-ending nostalgia for his glory days in the NYPD, keep the same energy the next time one of his officers beats or hurts someone?
It’s a question that begs an answer after the way Adams took it all the way to the mattress in support of a Harlem bodega worker who this morning had murder charges dropped against him over the July 1 stabbing of a Black man in his store. Jose Alba killed Austin Simon at the Blue Moon corner grocery in Harlem after Simon, 35, went behind the counter and physically confronted Alba, 61, over an argument that started with Simon’s girlfriend. When it was over, Simon, who was unarmed, was bleeding to death on the floor.
Alba was originally booked into New York’s infamous Rikers Island jail and charged with murder by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg Jr. That didn’t sit well with Alba’s supporters, including a group of bodega proprietors who protested and met with Bragg to demand that charges be dropped against Alba since he acted in self-defense. They also advocated that New York institute a so-called Stand Your Ground law which has been used numerous times in other states to justify flimsy self-defense claims when civilians have shot and killed unarmed Black man.
Alba’s murder charge also didn’t sit well with Adams, who held a press conference outside the bodega in support of Alba and also called Bragg to discuss the case, the New York Times reported.
On Friday, Mr. Adams expressed strong support for Mr. Alba in a radio interview on WABC.
“This is the same message that I’ve been stating over and over again: that hard-working New Yorkers, and Americans to be honest with you, should not be attacked in their place of work,” Mr. Adams said. “There is a line that must be drawn when you are a primary aggressor and that is what I saw on the video.”
The comments by Mr. Adams, who was elected on a promise that he would reduce crime, came a day after he held a news conference outside the bodega and said he was on the side of “innocent New Yorkers” who want to ride the subway and go to work without fear of attack.
G/O Media may get a commission
It’s fair for Adams to express his opinion about the case, although Simon’s family is on the record disagreeing. Their unarmed loved one was killed in a fight and they now have to watch a tough-on-crime mayor advocate that his killer go free.
The rest of us have to wonder if this if Adams will come to the same conclusion the next time a New York cop kills an unarmed civilian.
